


The Tony of Yesteryear

by FawnoftheWoods



Series: Not Alone Anymore [29]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Human Ownership, Memory Loss, Referenced Human Rights Suppression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:01:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25158160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FawnoftheWoods/pseuds/FawnoftheWoods
Summary: Tony suffered a concussion.  It erases months of wok on Steve's friendship with him.  None of the Avengers realized just how much Iron Man and the Avengers changed Tony.Obligatory Memory loss fic for my series.  Can be read alone
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team
Series: Not Alone Anymore [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/602305
Comments: 2
Kudos: 87





	The Tony of Yesteryear

**Author's Note:**

> Can be read alone. Or as part of the series.

Steve was just trying the tea Bruce recommended when JARVIS notified them of the accident.

“Please assist Sir in the workshop, there has been a small explosion.” Steve left the kitchen at a run and took the steps a level at a time while Bruce took the more sedate approach of the elevator. Natasha met Steve at the doors which opened for them easily enough.

“Tony?” 

“Sir and Agent Barton are in the north corner. They may be unable to move the containers on top of them and the explosion likely caused hearing loss for several minutes.” Steve and Natasha slowly started to make their way through the clutter. It had been a small explosion in that most of the area was unchanged. Bruce was in the room by the time they located the pair.

“Tony? Clint?” Natasha went past them, being the lightest and stood at their heads while Steve and Bruce examined the metal cabinet on top of them. A low moan drew their attention.

“Ouch.” Steve smirked briefly at Clint’s mutter.

“Easy Clint. Body check!” Natasha’s order was automatically followed by the trained agent.

“All bones intact, no loss of sensation or ability to move noted. Internal pain at sore level. Ears are ringing. Also, full body ow.” 

Natasha smiled at him. “A bomb will do that to you. Tony?” 

Clint shifted. He was on his back under Tony, who was facing him and sandwiched between him and the metal cabinet Steve was helping Bruce to clear safely.

“Not certain yet. Hey Tony!” The engineer moaned softly as Bruce helped Steve clear the last of the dangerous stuff off the cabinet. Bruce knelt next to the pinned pair.

“Hang on, we’re going to lift the cabinet now.” He nodded to Steve who gently lifted the cabinet and set it upright. Bruce placed a gentle hand on Tony’s neck, worried about the blood on the back of his head.

“Tony, can you hear me?” The answering groan was louder this time and he moved as if to get up.

“What th’hell did I drink last night?” Bruce smiled in relief as Tony slowly sat sidewise, weaving dramatically.

“Nothing, I want to run a CT of your skull though. I don’t like that blood.” Tony blinked as he looked up at them. Next to him Clint groaned as he sat up with Natasha’s help.

“Next time Tony says to leave something alone, remind me to do it!” He held his head gingerly. Steve sighed. That explained a lot. Bruce had done wonders for Tony’s safety practices. Tony was still blinking at Bruce as the scientist looked him over.

“Where’s Pepper?” Bruce stopped a moment and frowned.

“She’s still in Japan. She left yesterday.” Tony pressed his hands to his face.

“Yesterday, right. Wait, why did she go to Japan?” Bruce kept trying to meet his eyes, but Tony wouldn’t have it. Eventually Steve answered the question.

“I believe it was breaking ground on a new manufacturing facility. Something to do with the fishing industry.” Tony blinked a few more times and looked around.

“This is my work shop?” Steve frowned as did Natasha. Bruce swore under his breath.

“Tony what is the last thing you remember?” Tony looked at him finally and Steve saw the most startling change overcome the genius. His gaze went from fuzzy to piercing in a matter of moments.

“I think I don’t need that CT scan, thanks.” Bruce rolled his eyes.

“ _ You _ never think you need a CT scan.  _ I _ think you need one.” Tony gave him a truly salacious grin.

“I’m all good. See?” The engineer bounced up and stood on the balls of his feet a moment. Steve snorted. Tony sometimes was like a kid on a dozen popsicles. Bruce was still frowning, Tony had glanced around his workshop and whistled.

“All right, out! I’ve got this mess to clean up so out. Out! OUT!” Tony shooed them out with wild hands as Natasha helped Clint stand and gingerly walk out followed by the rest of them. Steve was practically dragging Bruce at this point.

They saw Tony look around with his hands on his hips and shake his head. Steve sighed as he looked at Bruce.

“I know you want to scan him, but JARVIS will do that. If he’s bouncing around like that he can’t have a concussion. Clint doesn’t and look at him” Steve gestured to the whining pair of agents further up the hallway. Bruce shook his head.

“Its more than that, Steve. Tony’s mental abilities are impressive. I know you think he’s a genius, but you don’t understand what that means.” Steve stopped and turned to him. He leaned against the wall and waited.

“Go ahead and explain it then.” Bruce blinked at him in surprise. Steve nodded his head. “Tony is my friend and my teammate. For either of those reasons I want to understand.” Bruce glanced at the workshop, which was now clearly in blackout mode.

“You know Tony is a brilliant engineer. His memory recall is near perfect and his pattern recognition is off the charts. That in and of itself is amazing and puts him in the top 10% of the world’s scientists and engineers.” Steve nodded. “What separates Tony isn’t that. That’s what genius tends to mean for the rest of the world.” Steve’s brow furrowed slightly in confusion. Bruce glanced at the darkened doors again.

“Tony’s true genius is in his processing speed.” Bruce looked at Steve a moment.

“Tony studied Dr Selvig’s notes on the cube for a single night. Dr Selvig, who is a genius in his own right, still hadn’t solved the problems with the cube, but Tony took a single night and was able to not only understand his reasoning without any background in Thermonuclear physics, but extrapolate his solution based on one additional variable, iridium.” Bruce looked at his hands a moment.

“It would be analogous to setting you in front of an x-ray machine, and you be able to fix it with nothing more than a manual and an hour.” Steve blinked.

“That would be impossible.” Bruce nodded.

“Tony and I have completely different areas of interest, but he can follow my research beyond a basic level. Most people think all scientists learn all science, but that isn’t true beyond some basics. Tony should have 4 doctorates. The sheer speed with which he takes in information is beyond measure.” Steve glanced back at the lab in thought.

“So Iron Man…?” Bruce smiled wryly.

“Unlike War Machine, which is mostly piloted and controlled by an offshoot of JARVIS, the Iron Man armor depends on Tony. He’s working on enough of an interface so JARVIS can do some basics, besides get him home when he can’t think anymore. He’s trying to help JARVIS stand guard in the suit without him. Its an amazing project.” 

“Okay, I think I understand, but what does that have to do with this?” Steve gestured to the door.

“Tony’s ability to compensate for gravity is phenomenal. You’ve seen him fly upside down, spin circles around something, hell first time you worked together he was rolled and battered like a can on the highway and still managed to aim well enough to take out a gunman. War Machine doesn’t do that. He flies in a roughly straight line like a jet. He stops and fires straight. None of the acrobatics Tony is known for. Because that kind of free floating acrobatics requires a conscious tracking of gravity that most humans aren’t built for.” 

“But I do flips and Clint and Tasha bounce around all the time.”

“With extensive training in gymnastics. They have learned the sensation of different moves. Even you perform the same maneuvers in different combinations. Tony has no training in that type of movement and no serum. He consciously tracks the distance and angle between himself and all other objects in the area. I’m not certain his inner ear plays any more a roll than a mere suggestion of where gravity is. An extra data input.”

“Okay, so again, what does that have to do with this?” Bruce frowned in a familiar way. It was frustration Steve was used to seeing on his face when he explained something that no one was understanding. It suddenly occurred to him that he had never seen that face on Tony’s face before.

“The reason Clint is wobbly is because his inner ear is recovering. The reason drunks and concussed individuals wobble is because the brain is having trouble processing the inner ear. Tony can pilot the suit drunk on his ass! He won’t wobble with a concussion unless he doesn’t care who sees!” That cleared everything up. It also explained why Bruce was so nervous about Tony’s concussion.

“When he first woke up, he was having memory issues. If Tony wanted to pretend he wasn’t having memory issues, I have little to no doubt he would be able to pull it off short term at least. Even with Pepper.”

Steve stared at the dark doors in thought.

“Let's give him til lunch.”

* * *

Tony watched smiling as the door closed. Seeing them still standing outside the room, he forced another bounce to his step, ignoring the way the room tilted alarmingly.

“JARVIS you here bud?”

“Of course Sir.”

“Great, is there any way I could get some privacy please.” The door and walls went dark. “No one can see in?”

“I have initiated privacy level 5 Sir. No one can hear or see in without notifying you.” Tony slumped on his chair. He could trust JARVIS on that.

“Awesome. Now let’s orient. What is the time and date? How long was I out?” The answer made him stagger a bit. He swore under his breath. Years, he’d lost years.

“Alright, J scan my skull and brain and pull up a summary of my activities for the last four years.” Better to go a bit further back just in case.

Four screens popped up, one was his brain scan in progress and he minimized that. Or he figured out how to minimize it eventually, that was annoying. At least his user interface design was consistent. The others screens were divided into one screen of publicity with SI, one screen of personal stuff and one screen about someone named Iron man and a group called the Avengers. Since that last screen started only 2 years ago he ignored it and focused on the other two screens.

Much of what he read matched what memory he had, thankfully. He winced at the Afghanistan capture and JARVIS’s summary of the event. That looked like it sucked and he didn’t mind forgetting that for a while. The Arc reactor outcome had him looking down at his chest. His whole body ached something fierce so he hadn’t noticed it quite yet.

“J, pull up the current Arc reactor schematics and my notes.” Another screen came up and he skimmed through the notes enough to understand the basic functions, warnings, and maintenance before minimizing it. Then he turned back to the other screens.

Shutting down the weapons research of SI sounds a bit more crazy than he usually was, but PTSD could be like that. Then he read Obie’s obituary.

“Shit!” He felt as though the seat had been pulled out from under him. Obie was dead. More than dead, Tony had killed him! Now he felt nauseous. Who the hell was running the company if Obie was dead. He hated running company stuff.

“J, give me a company officer diagram.” A tree of names and faces appeared. Not much had changed if he remembered them right. The big thing that caught his attention was the CEO picture. Virginia Potts.

No.

No, he had been sure. When he had hired her, he had been sure she wasn’t one of those damn gold diggers. Now she ran the company. He looked for himself until he found himself, CTO, head of R&D. Well that made him feel a bit better. Still how could he have given up Stark Industries, he had finally talked Obie into allowing him control.

As he continued to read he saw that he probably had been distracted by this Avengers mess. All the projects he had upgrading their gear had probably given her the slot she needed to steal the company out from under him.

The door slid open on the other side of the room. Tony minimized all the screen and looked over. One of the men from before was coming in with a plate of food. He hadn’t had a chance to finish all the avenger files, but he understood the basics on his creation of Iron Man and had read up until his projected death studies. He must have solved the palladium problem at some point, because the current schematic wasn’t a palladium core.

“What’s this?” The blonde smiled and set the plate in front of him.

“It’s a PB&J with bananas as promised.” The man shook his head as he held out a napkin. Tony avoided the usual argument by simply ignoring the napkin’s existence and picking up one of the sandwich halves. Sniffing it as he walked away from the rather large man, it really seemed to be one of his favorite sandwiches. One of his secret favorites.

“I thought I said to leave me alone so I could clean up.” 

The man looked around him in amusement. “How’s that coming?” 

Tony grinned. “Distractions are everywhere.” He angled closer to the blonde, leaving his food on the table. “You look like you could be a very welcome distraction.” The man could blush, good lord! 

“Very funny Tony.” Then he frowned. “Are you sure you’re all right? That wound looked bad earlier.” Tony rolled his eyes.

“Oh for the love of- Mother Hen and Doctor Curly Hair can both exit stage right. I’m fine!” He got an eye roll for that, but the man relaxed so Tony must have used common enough nicknames for them. They fit. Tony turned away.

“JARVIS, show me the current access levels for the worrywarts.” A screen popped up. Bruce Banner was the Curly haired doctor. Tony vaguely remembered reading some paper by the man. He would have to look into that. His attention was caught rather sharply by the name of the blonde behind him.

Steve Rogers.

He had Captain Fucking America in his workshop. 

“Get. Out!” He had the entire reason he had no fucking childhood in his goddamn work shop.

“Tony?” Tony turned and looked at him. He remembered Captain America all right. He remembered the day his father decided he wasn’t good enough to read captain America comics and burned them all in the yard. Drunk of course. And the day he had used his weld torch to the comforter. He had been so drunk that time he hadn’t noticed Tony hiding under the bed. He remembered the day he had hated Captain America so much he had taken out his entire secret stash of stuff and thoroughly destroyed it to spite his father. Not that Howard had noticed or cared.

“I said Get OUT!” He reined in control of his voice when he broke into shout volume. Captain America rocked back, looking confused. What the fucking hell did they brainwash him with if Tony was willingly hanging out with him.

“Tony? What’s wrong?” He looked over to see that Dr Banner was walking in the room, looking confused. Well, that made three of them.

“I’m saying this is my goddamn workshop, I will do with it as I please and I please that you all leave me the hell alone.” He used his ‘I am the Merchant of Death’ voice. It made both of them flinch. It didn’t seem to get them to move. In fact, it seemed to make them more interested in not going anywhere.

“Tony, what is the last thing you remember?” Dr Banner was the one to ask that question.

“I seem to remember requesting you both to leave, multiple times.” He wasn’t sure what he would do if they didn’t. It wasn’t like Security could force Captain America to DO anything.

“I knew I should have gotten a scan. JARVIS, did you run a CT of Tony’s skull?”

“Yes, Bruce. The concussion was minor and is healing at normal projected rate.” 

“JARVIS, revoke their access to your information.”

“That requires Admin authorization, Sir.” 

“Tony, its okay, we’re your friends.” Tony was still staring at Captain America when he laughed at Banner’s plea.

“Wait, friends? Right. You maybe. I remember a paper you wrote, we’d get along fine, but Captain Icon over here, I don’t think so.” He glanced at the man, who looked as stoic as Howard at his best. “Thanks for the pity party, but I’m really more of a center stage type of guy.”

“I don’t do pity.” 

Tony snorted. “Why else be ‘friends’ with a consultant then. How much do they pay you for that?” 

“Tony-“ Steve looked like he had swallowed a grenade. Bruce had never heard Steve’s voice break like that. He understood. The road for the two leaders to become friends in any sense had been long and complicated. Even now, he knew Tony was hesitant to believe in their bond on any level.

“No! Fuck you! I get that Fury used me and that’s how I lost the company, but fuck you for letting him!” Steve blinked now, utterly confused. Bruce decided he would get more answers than Steve. Tony was trying to piece together a history he didn’t remember, but he didn’t have all the pieces.

“You haven’t lost the company.” 

Tony glared at him, enough that he had to step back a moment before straightening. “Then why is my secretary suddenly CEO?” That was a dangerous voice. Bruce felt the Other Guy wake up and look around. He consciously forced himself to calm down.

“You signed it over when you thought you were dying from Paladium Poisoning.”

“Well, I got better!”

“And you are CTO so you don’t have to attend to the damn paperwork and meetings required of a CEO!” Bruce didn’t mean to snap, but damn it, Tony could push buttons. “You trust Pepper.”

“I don’t trust anyone!” Bruce bit his lip because what he remembered of this part of Tony’s life meant he only trusted Obidiah Stane and Rhodey. Not a good population, given what Stane had done. Unfortunately, Steve seemed a bit too flustered to think that through.

“What about Colonel Rhodes?” Tony looked at Steve, and suddenly, Bruce had the feeling he had still been handling them with kid gloves. His face blanked and his eyes zoomed in on Steve so fast.

“Colonel Rhodes is a valuable contact in the air force. You will need to kiss some major ass to get close to contacting him. Of course, those type of requests run through Admiral Hadent. You can make the request, but I’m certain he will lose it since you don’t have the importance to ensure it. Fury certainly doesn’t with all his hiding, so I wouldn’t depend on him. You know something awesome about Captain America. He is technically property of the Army due to the contract signed by one Steve Grant Rogers in 1941. It states that Captain America is the property of the Army until such time as the US Army is disbanded. This includes all personal liberties of the subject of all recipient experiments. Failing in the Army’s need to claim said property, the ownership defaults to the main scientists involved in the Project Rebirth. The last scientist involved in Project Rebirth was Howard Stark. At the time of his death all personal property, including Project Rebirth rights fell to his direct heir. That would be me.”

Steve was now sheet white as the recitation ended. Bruce felt like he was about to throw up. He hadn’t known about that part of the contract for Project Rebirth. Moreover, he knew that the Tony he had gotten to know over the last year would have known and would never have pursued this, or even suggested it.

“Tony, don’t-“ Tony waved at Bruce.

“Threaten someone under my protection again, please.” Steve was now backing away from him, shaking. Bruce gulped, swallowing the Other Guy, who was reacting to Steve’s distress and Bruce’s nausea. That threat reminded him too much of Ross. He needed to slow Tony down a bit. 

“JARVIS, play surveillance of the common room last week Wednesday 1800 hours.” He needed something that would throw this Tony for a loop. Something that would simultaneously calm Steve down a bit.

The image popped up on the screen. Tony was drinking coffee alone in the common area when Clint dropped in front of him.

“ _ There you are! You aren’t supposed to vanish after a panic attack Tones _ ” The Tony on the screen shrank back but Clint hopped next to him on the back of the sofa, bracketing him with his legs.

“ _ JARVIS, patch me through to Bruce and Nat….I found him guys. He’s in the common room with coffee” _

_ “Caffeine won’t help _ ” Bruce’s voice came from the speakers. Bruce knew he was heading for the elevators to join them. In the workshop, while Tony watched this, Bruce moved towards Steve slowly, but determinedly. Tony had deemed him less a threat than Steve and he wanted to check on the supersoldier, who had knelt to the floor to watch the video with them and to breathe.

“ _ I got it. Tony, try this instead. _ ” The real Tony jerked violently at the sound of Steve’s voice. Tony on the screen whined as Clint took away his coffee as Steve handed him a bowl of soup. Natasha and Bruce joined them from the elevator a moment later. They collected 2 bowls of soup each and all five of them settled around Tony to eat. Steve sat next to Tony with a box of animal crackers that he dropped into Tony’s soup one at a time for the engineer to chase with his spoon.

“Clam Chowder with crackers.” Tony looked at Bruce standing next to Steve in the workshop. “Its your second favorite meal after oatmeal when you’ve had a bad scare. You told him once that Steve makes it better than even Edwin Jarvis.” Tony winced before looking back at the video. Everyone had finished eating and Clint was collecting the bowls as Natasha collected the spoons. The video followed the group into the kitchen as Natasha and Clint made a game of juggling the dirty dishes, handing Steve one at a time to wash. Tony would take the dishes from Steve and dry them before guessing where they belonged, with Bruce correcting him periodically. Bruce was scooping out ice cream with various toppings while this was going on. The entire time, Clint and Tony were snarking about the balance of the objects Clint was juggling. Even with half the team gone, it was a good night to show Tony.

Once they were done, each grabbed their ice cream bowl and made for the common room again where Natasha had been collecting blankets and a mattress they stored behind the TV for just such an evening. Bruce watched as Clint grabbed Natasha’s bowl and he softly began to recite.

“2 scoops vanilla with hot fudge for Steve; 1 scoop each vanilla, strawberry and chocolate with peanuts for Clint; strawberry sherbet with blueberries for me; 1 scoop strawberry, 2 scoops chocolate with coconut and hot fudge for Natasha; 2 scoops vanilla with a sliced banana and hot fudge for you.” Tony swallowed as he watched his past self settle on the mattress next to Clint with Steve behind them. Bruce settled in the arm chair and Natasha on the sofa behind Steve. Beauty and the Beast started playing on the TV as they ate and Tony stared at the group. Present Steve squeezed Bruce’s hand to let him know the supersoldier had recovered from the shock earlier. Bruce on the screen collected the ice cream bowls as they were emptied and Clint and Tony leaned back against Steve. Natasha stretched out in front of them. JARVIS helpfully lowered the video volume as Bruce took a breath to talk again.

“Tony, you are our friend.” Tony stared at the screen and swallowed hard. Bruce could see his friend wasn’t capable of reacting right now. This was too much of a stretch. “Let me evaluate the CT scan. Trust me to evaluate your concussion.” Tony glanced at him and then at Steve. Steve blinked in surprise at the vulnerability, before giving him a gentle smile and nodding. He saw the jaw twitch but Tony nodded his head.

JARVIS brought up the scan next to Bruce as Steve watched Tony carefully. He was looking at the video with such naked longing that it hurt.

“You are healing, but you need rest. Actual rest Tony. Please come to the common room. We can put on the Great Mouse Detective.” Tony swallowed and finally nodded.

“JARVIS, save all work and go to Sleep mode. Steve see if Nat, phil, Sam and Clint want to join us please.” Bruce rarely took lead in anything except cooking, but both leaders looked a bit overwhelmed right now. He gently placed a hand on Tony’s arm to draw him from the video and guide him upstairs.

* * *

Steve let a whoosh of breath out as Clint and Natasha settled in next to Tony. Sam was out and Phil was at SHIELD so it was just them when Steve called. He had filled them in on most of the scene in the workshop. Bruce had given him “medicinal tea” and Steve hadn’t asked what was in it, but Tony was looking drowsy. On the screen, a pair of mice were in a particularly complicated trap. He hadn’t paid much attention. He looked over as the movie continued and Tony just glanced around him.

“You should sleep Tony.” He kept his voice quiet enough to not wake Clint or Bruce. Natasha was likely awake still and watching over Clint.

“I can’t. You may not be here when I wake up.” Steve glanced at Tony in question. “I’ll wake up next to that girl, whatever her name was, and I won’t be able to sleep so I’ll go into the workshop and fix an engine that isn’t broken before sending the new Jericho design to R&D so they can take credit for it. Rhodey will be the only person willing to cuddle and only when he’s drunk. I will bring home another whats-her-name so the house isn’t so quiet, who won’t want anything but a pleasurable work out so she can get her 15 minutes of fame.” Steve eyed the empty tea cup suspiciously, _what the hell had Bruce given the genius?_

“We will still be here, you won’t be alone.” Tony looked at him and Steve was shocked to see sheen of tears in his eyes.

“You know, Jarvis, the human Jarvis, was the best hugger. Ana, his wife was a close second, but Jarvis was the best. He understood me better than anyone ever has.” Tony looked at Clint, who was cuddled up against his side. They all knew that if Clint fell asleep outside one of his nests, he cuddled incessantly or he had nightmares.

“When Howard destroyed most of my Captain America stuff, I only was able to save a little of it. When I destroyed the rest, Jarvis saved 2 items. I found them in his quarters after he died.” Steve stared at Tony in surprise. He hadn’t known Tony had any of his franchise as a kid, though with Howard as a father it made sense.

He looked at Tony to see him nodding off. He probably wouldn’t have heard his murmur if not for the serum, “You were my hero, supposed to save me.”

Steve just sat on the chair and watched over his team as he thought about that.

* * *

Tony groaned 12 hours later, pulling Steve from his thoughts. He hadn’t slept, determined to be awake when Tony woke up.

“Who’s playing the damn drums?” Steve blinked and noted that Natasha was also up and had placed a soft arm around the moaning genius. Tony blinked as he looked around. “What happened?”

“Tony?” He glanced at Steve, but all Steve read was pain in his glance. Bruce sat up as well.

“Tony, how do you feel?” Tony growled at him, which was usually funny, but Steve didn’t feel like laughing, not until he knew if he got his friend back.

“Like someone used my head for hockey practice. What th’ hell?” Bruce massaged his neck as he knelt next to his best friend.

“What is the last thing you remember?” Tony winced, curling in a ball. Natasha left to the kitchen, probably to get some water as Clint woke up and gingerly wrapped himself further around the miserable genius.

“Arrows, I was working on Clint’s arrows. I think I finished them?” He was holding his head and balled up. Clint rocked him slightly.

“I’m sorry, Tones. This is my fault. I’m so sorry!” Clint’s voice was hoarse and Steve was suddenly less certain the Archer had slept all night.

“Just what happened?” Tony’s mumble was around the tea Natasha was handing him along with a pair of pills as Bruce looked him over.

“You had a mild concussion. Jarvis, CT scan please.” Tony glanced at Bruce in question.

“A Concussion?” Steve could see the medicine kick in as Tony’s attention focused better.

“Sir’s concussion is healing at the expected rate.” A screen appeared with the scan enlarged. Tony looked at it a moment before nodding.

“Wait, why is Birdbrain apologizing for that. Did you hit me on the head?” Clint shook his head where he still clung to Tony. Natasha eventually answered for him.

“He touched something. It went boom.” Tony blinked at her before looking down at Clint’s head and sighing.

“Awesome, how bad is the workshop.” Bruce shook his head smiling as did Steve at that point. Trust Tony to be more concerned about his workshop when his head feels like it could explode.

“I will finish cleaning it up after lunch.” Clint’s promise was interrupted by Tony’s strangled protest, followed by Bruce.

“We will. You don’t need to be near some of that equipment unsupervised.” They all chuckled. Tony closed his eyes and leaned back against the couch. Then he tensed and sat up again, this time searching the room with his eyes. Clint looked up at him in concern.

“What?” Tony met Steve’s gaze and he relaxed.

“Nothing, just why’s Steve not in the Puppy pile?” Steve swallowed and looked away.

“I’ll explain after you eat breakfast.” He headed to the kitchen to start the griddle. He wasn’t surprised when Bruce and Tony followed him but Natasha and Clint left for their own floors. They’d be back for food after changing and whatever else they did to wake up.

“Steve?” he glanced back at Tony at the question. The engineer looked tired and was probably still sporting a mild headache despite the meds. Bruce moved to make tea, letting Steve talk in his own pace.

“Tony, how long ago did you send the Jericho designs to SI’s R&D department?” Tony stiffened.

“8 months before I demonstrated it in Afghanistan.” Steve nodded.

“So roughly 3 1/2 years ago?” Tony nodded tightly. The weapons history was a sore spot for him sometimes.

“That was the Tony you were for about 3 hours yesterday.” Tony paled.

“What? I was-, I was conscious?” Steve nodded as he cracked a dozen eggs into a bowl for breakfast. Tony focused on him intently and almost seemed to read his mind.

“I doubt I was particularly friendly. I was a bit of a jerk back then. Its amazing Pepper didn’t stab me in my sleep.” Tony toyed with the cup in front of him. “JARVIS, where was I during most of this memory lapse?” Steve’s head ducked as JARVIS answered. Tony sighed.

“Well, there is an easy way for this. JARVIS play the surveillance footage from the workshop for that time.” 

Steve’s head jerked up at that. “Wait, Tony, that isn’t a good idea.” Tony glanced at him, waving to pause the video that had just appeared.

“It’s the fastest way to know what happened.” Tony looked confused and mildly concerned. Steve swallowed.

“It wasn’t- You weren’t- Tony, what happened wasn’t fun for any of us.” Tony looked at him in confusion before he frowned, his focus narrowing.

“What did I say?” Steve flinched at the reminder that he needed to find out what Tony did know about his contract.

“Tony…” He stopped helplessly, uncertain about how to go on. Bruce finally took pity on him.

“You didn’t trust us. When you found out that Steve was Captain America…”

“I would have gotten pretty pissed.” Tony sighed as he finished Bruce’s statement. His head thunked on the countertop. Steve bit his lip.

“I didn’t realize that I was such a hateful concept for you.” 

Tony tensed, clenching his fist before speaking into the countertop. “You aren’t, he was.” Steve gave him a questioning grunt. Tony sighed.

“Did I say anything specific or just general, ‘you are an ass, get out’” 

Steve swallowed as he looked away. 

“Shit!” 

Steve mumbled back, “I should have known better than to mention Colonel Rhodes.” Tony’s head shot up and he blinked at Steve in surprise.

“You mentioned Rhodey?” Steve nodded and Tony winced. “I doubt I reacted well to that.” Steve shook his head, swallowed the bile that was climbing his throat again as Bruce shattered his tea cup. Tony looked over in concern as Bruce swore and moved to the sink to clean up the mess. Now fully worried, Tony looked back at Steve.

“I would have made a threat to get you to back off Rhodey. I was very protective of him and very suspicious of anyone who wanted my trust.” Steve nodded. “So what did I…?”

“Rebirth Acceptance Contract Section XIV subsection J.” Steve had looked up the contract while they slept. He looked at Tony in time to see the billionaire turn green and lunge for the trash. Steve gripped his shoulders as Tony emptied what little there was in his stomach. Steve helped him return to his seat when he was finished and Bruce handed him a glass of water. Tony was panting hard, eyes glassy. 

“I didn’t know you remembered that contract.” 

Steve shook his head. “I didn’t remember that part.” He was silent a moment as Tony gulped water and air in an attempt to calm down. “Have you looked at that recently?” Tony swallowed his last gulp before looking at him.

“Yeah, as soon as the Chitauri mess was under some control, I had my legal team pull it up. Same team I had attacking the Ross issue for Bruce.” Tony looked down. “They came up with 2 routes. I was going to leave it up to you which one to run with if it came to a legal battle.” 

Steve moved over to flip the eggs. He was carefully standing with his back to Tony when he responded. “One of those include you taking ownership of me?” He heard a strangled cry behind him.

“Shit! JARVIS replay what I said in reference to this contract.” 

“No, Tony, you don’t-“ Steve turned quickly.

Tony cut him off. “JARVIS, play it!”

The screen next to Tony came to life. Steve swallowed as he heard the threat again. He was far more concerned about Tony who was turning even whiter. He glanced at Bruce, who was looking at Tony in concern.

“Jesus! Steve, I didn’t mean it!” Tony’s face was desperate as he turned to Steve. “Even back then it would only be a threat to protect Rhodey, not something I’d actually go through with. I didn’t mean it!”

Steve placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Easy, easy, I know Tony. I know you by now.” Tony played with his fingers as Bruce finished cooking the eggs leaving Steve to stay with Tony. When Tony spoke again it was with a small voice.

“When I was a kid I loved Captain America. Howard always talked about him like he was the best thing since sliced bread. I would dream that Captain America would come visit and he’d play with me and he’d make Howard stop drinking and my mother laugh again. Then when I realized Howard was actually looking for Captain America, I prayed he’d find you and you’d stop his drinking.” 

Steve stayed quiet, sensing Tony needed to get this out.

“He gave up a bit more each trip that was unsuccessful. He took away my Captain America toys when I was 5 and told me to do something useful. I learned to build an engine. He removed Captain America from my room when I was 11 and told me to quit wasting my time so I completed high school in the next 2 years. When he told me I was enrolled in MIT despite wanting to go to Stanford I burned what little Captain America stuff I had saved and decided Captain America wasn’t coming so I had to save myself.”

Steve nodded. “You mentioned something like that last night. You said Jarvis had saved something?” 

Tony nodded.

“Yeah. I found them after he died. He’s packed them in a box with a note. It said, ‘Dreams are what makes reality amazing. Never throw them away’” Tony sniffed and smiled.

“I assume the pair of Captain America boxers survived by being in the wash.” Tony looked down, face flushing bright red. Steve hadn’t thought Tony could blush anymore. “He also rescued my BuckyBear.” 

“Bucky  _ Bear _ ?” Steve felt a smile creep across his face.

Tony snorted. “Yeah, toy companies are strange. Still, BB and I had a lot of great adventures. He’s the one who decided my first circuit board should have blue lights instead of red.” He glanced at Steve with a smile.

“He was my best friend until I went to MIT and met Rhodey. I told him everything.” 

Steve smiled. “Bucky was good like that.” 

Steve placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder, “You’re a pretty good friend too.” Tony just flushed but didn’t move away. Steve felt absurdly grateful that he had made it through this man’s shields. Tony was right, he could have reported that contract to the army and since he had signed it of free will, he didn’t doubt the fight for it to be null and void would have been horrifying. But he knew Tony and more than that, he trusted Tony.

And Tony trusted him.

**Author's Note:**

> I like pushing friendship boundaries with these guys. What do you think?


End file.
